 Karen and John Huff School Chair Reginald DesRoches joined a Georgia Tech-organized panel May 5 on the challenges for African-American men in science, technology, engineering and math fields. (Photo Courtesy of Georgia Tech News Center.) |
College of Engineering Dean Gary May convened a policy and media panel in Washington D.C. May 5 to highlight the difficulties for African-American men in science and engineering fields.
Karen and John Huff School Chair Reginald DesRoches joined May on the roundtable, along with industry and education leaders.
More on the roundtable from Laura Diamond in the Georgia Tech News Center:
While more underrepresented students are pursuing careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, one group has yet to experience these gains. STEM undergraduate degrees for African-American men have basically remained flat for the past nine years.
Attracting this demographic is essential to maintaining America’s position as a leader in technology innovation, said Gary May, dean of the College of Engineering at Georgia Tech.
May hosted two roundtable discussions in Washington, D.C., Tuesday to confront the challenges facing this issue and celebrate the success stories that receive too little attention.
“It’s a grand challenge, but we know how to solve it,” May said, noting that one out of every 10 African-American engineers with a Ph.D. graduated from Georgia Tech.